BARKER HOUSE FACTS

• Thomas and Penelope Barker built this house in 1782.
• The house originally consisted of a parlor wing and half of the hall; at one time, pocket doors separated the double parlors.
• The house had three additions between 1782 and the 1840s.
• The woodwork is Federal in the street-front parlor, Georgian in the sound-front parlor, and Greek Revival in the dining room and kitchen.
• The house has three floors and eight fireplaces.
• Originally located two blocks north near the site of Super 10, the house was rolled to present site in 1952. The Business and Professional Women, Jaycees, and Edenton Woman’s Club took title when the owner wanted to put commercial property on the site and offered the house to anyone that would move and restore it.
• Barker House is now the home of Edenton Historical Commission.

THOMAS BARKER

• He was born 1713 in Massachusetts or Rhode Island.
• He moved to Bertie County in 1734 to read law. When he traveled the “circuit,” he spent much time in Edenton and Chowan County.
• In 1738 he married Ferebee Savage Pugh, and they had one child, Betsy.
• In 1756 he married Penelope Padgett Hodgson Craven.
• In 1761 he left for England and stayed there until 1778, the last few years as colonial agent for the colony. He died in 1789

PENELOPE BARKER

• She was born in Chowan County in 1728, the daughter Samuel Padgett and Elizabeth Blount.
• She married John Hodgson at young age. She was 19 and expecting her second child when Hodgson died in 1747. She inherited substantial property from Hodgson.
• In 1752 she married James Craven. Before marrying, he purchased Penelope’s property from her. Craven died in 1754, leaving to Penelope all his property, including what he had originally bought from her.
• In 1756 she married Thomas Barker when she was 28 and he was 44. They had three children, all of whom died young.
• When Thomas died, he left Penelope all his property which included town lots, two plantations, 33 mahogany chairs, 53 slaves, watches, horses, and 400 books. Penelope died in 1796.
• Penelope and Thomas were buried at Hayes Plantation.

THE EDENTON TEA PARY

• On October 25, 1774, 51 women signed their names to a petition resolving not to buy or use British goods on which they had to pay taxes.
• As the story goes, they signed at the home of Elisabeth King, who did not sign herself.
• Edenton was a cosmopolitan town if 51 women could read and write. Only one-quarter of colonists were literate; women were less likely than men to be educated.
• The first political action by women in the Colonies caused quite a stir! A caricature of them appeared in a London newspaper with English politicians’ heads on women’s bodies.

PENELOPE BARKER, Revolutionary Patriot 1728-1796

Penelope Barker was born in Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina, the daughter of Samuel Padgett and Elizabeth Blount. Penelope outlived three husbands and all five of her children. Her first husband was John Hodgson, who died two years after they were married. Next, she married James Craven, who died four years later. In 1757 she married Thomas Barker, who was born in 1713 in Rhode Island or Massachusetts. When they married, he was a widower. In 1761 Thomas sailed for London to serve as the agent for the North Carolina Colony. As a result of the American Revolution, Thomas was forced to remain in England until 1778.

On October 25, 1774, 51 ladies of the Albemarle region refused to drink tea for which they had to pay tax. They signed a resolution to show their support of North Carolina’s Provisional Assembly:

"As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears nearly to affect the peace and happiness of our country, and as it has thought necessary, for the public good, to enter into several particular resolves by a meeting of Members deputed from the whole Province, it is a duty which we owe, not only to our near and dear connections who have concurred in them, but to ourselves who are essentially interested in their welfare, to do everything as far as lies in our power to testify our sincere adherence to the same: and we do therefore accordingly subscribe this paper, as a witness of our fixed intention and solemn determination to do so."

Known as the Edenton Tea Party, this document is the first purely political action by women in the American Colonies. According to tradition, Penelope Barker was its organizer and leader. A contemporary account, along with the resolution and its signers appeared, in the January 16, 1775 Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser. A caricature of the Edenton Tea Party that appeared in a London paper in 1775 portrays the women with masculine features. Thomas Barker returned to Edenton in 1778 and died in 1789. Penelope died in 1796 and was buried next to Thomas in the Johnston family graveyard at Hayes Plantation near Edenton.

Thomas and Penelope built the “Barker House” in 1782. It was a story and a half side-hall house. It had several additions by the 1840s when it became the size you see it today. In 1952 it was moved several blocks to its present location when the man who owned it wanted to put a grocery store on his land where the house was located. The Barker House is now the headquarters of Edenton Historical Commission.